In Retrospect
by starkind
Summary: How the planning of Stark Expo could have gone; an AU version. None of the characters are mine, all credit goes to Marvel and to DC.


**Standard disclaimer - don't own, don't sue. Anything you recognize obviously isn't mine. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts belong to Marvel, Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox respectively to DC. No copyright infringement intended. **

**In Retrospect**

In retrospect, it was all Tony's fault.

Why that did not surprise her earlier, Pepper Potts had no idea. Over the years, she had gotten used to blaming Tony for many things that had gone awry: Be that meetings he did not attend, deadlines he missed, or lawsuits filed against him for whatever inappropriate reason - Pepper had seen it all and more than just her fair share. After Iron Man and all of the hullabaloo that had ensued, however, things changed, or at least started to shift.

When Tony ushered his company into a new era, it had some kind of 'from zero to hero' vibe that gave a powerful surge throughout Stark Industries, and shushed any previous naysayer. Not long after his superhero revelation, Tony had the idea of bringing the Stark Expo back to life. It had been a project initiated by the very Howard Stark way back in the fifties, and now sadly only consisted of dusty chipboard panels from the last expo that had taken place in 1974, which were rotting away in a storage room at HQ ever since.

What ever came over the billionaire to suddenly feel like reviving the spirit of his father was completely beyond Pepper's imagination. Paired with the fact that Tony seemed more erratic and distant towards her than usual, she decided to keep her mouth shut and do as she was told: Get in touch with the New York Department of Parks and Recreation to have an option on the grounds in Flushing Meadows, Queens, get exhibitors and sponsors on board and organize their appearances and individual pavilion designs. May 7th 2010 should mark the grand opening and until then, there was a lot that needed to be done.

The exhibitor-finding part turned out to be the easiest; in fact nearly every company wanted to be associated with Iron Man and Tony Stark these days. Pepper had the event department warding off plenty of lesser fitting inquires, seeing that Tony only wanted visionary, powerful companies exhibiting at his Expo. Stark subsidiaries like Cordco in Australia, Fujikawa from Tokyo and Accutech, California therefore were the first ones to get the go-ahead to design and furnish their pavilions without requiring too much supervision or support from their parent company. Big brand companies like LG, Kodak, 7 -11, Symantec, Oracle, Audi and many more were on board after not even a month, and Pepper made sure to visit the location site ever so often to ensure progress was being made and to report back to the CEO-turned-superhero.

When Wayne Enterprises from Gotham City appeared on the screen to enquire about possible exhibition space, Pepper was hesitant at first. After meeting the very Mister Bruce Wayne himself for the first time -all designer suit, tall, dark hair and hazel eyes -her hesitation began to falter. When Tony learned about it, he simply smiled his trademark grin, slapped a hand upon the taller man's firm shoulder and enthusiastically welcomed Wayne to the show. Pepper knew her boss always liked competition because he inwardly was convinced that none of them could actually hold a candle to his own conglomerate or genius mindset.

It was safe to say everything could have worked out well from that point on, had it not been for the very Tony Stark foiling her plans.

After an oral agreement with Wayne Enterprises on the phone about reserving the sky dome pavilion, Pepper was furious beyond belief to find out several days later how Tony had haphazardly donated said pavilion to Oracle Corp. on a night out with their managers and plenty of beautiful hostesses. All of her efforts to motivate him to revoke his decision failed and resulted in Tony all but ordering her to call Wayne off. Their quarrel went up to the point where he threatened her to give the other billionaire a call himself and do it in his very own way. Needless to say Pepper caved in; the last thing she wanted or needed was a high-class beef between two of America's most powerful companies just because Tony had succumbed to the temptation of several half-naked, long-legged bribery tools instead of forging new alliances.

To make matters worse, Pepper was forced to apologize to Bruce Wayne in person.

Fate had it planned for the young billionaire to take another day off-duty from business in Gotham, and he had decided to make it a spontaneous on-site visit. He was accompanied by a black man who was none other than Lucius Fox; and Pepper had not felt as awkward and silly in ages as she stood in front of them and babbled excuses. She inwardly cursed her wayward boss throughout the whole conversation with the two men in front of the pavilion in question, which would be spelling doom for any future collaboration plans.

Much to her luck Wayne did not even seem offended or angry at her stammered out apologies. He simply shrugged and flashed a dazzling grin before he leaned over to his companion. He spoke a few hushed words with Fox until the black man nodded, pulled out a cell phone and excused himself to walk over into the distance and talk more freely. Pepper watched him go with a slight frown on her face. She was convinced it could not mean any good and mentally tried to brace herself for whatever situation was about to arise.

For the moment, it also left her to stand next to Bruce Wayne in the middle of the large fairgrounds alone, shifting on her feet and clinging onto the clipboard in her arms. She had no idea if her peace offer of renting another pavilion was appreciated, but figured that Wayne and Fox both most probably were too polite to downright refuse her makeshift solution. From the corner of her eyes she then noticed how Bruce Wayne watched her with an amused look on his face.

"No offense Miss Potts, but you're looking as miserable as sin. Shouldn't that be my part?"

Despite the situation Pepper had to smirk, even though it came out more of a grimace.

"I'm really sorry about what happened, Mister Wayne. I wish it wasn't like that."

He gave a wistful sigh, crossed his arms in front of his broad chest and simultaneously turned towards the offending real estate object. With a small nod he cocked his head a little. "Yeah, truly a shame. From what I've heard, Lucius told me he would've really liked it." Not knowing what to say, Pepper wished for the earth to open up and swallow her right there and then. She continued to glance back and forth between Fox who was still on the phone, and the billionaire next to her. As if on cue, Bruce Wayne then got serious.

"Now, now, Miss Potts. I'm just kidding. It's not that big a deal anyhow. Please stop looking so sad, you're far too pretty for that."

Unsure whether the Gothamite either pulled her leg, flirted with her or both eventually got through her shame-ridden thoughts and Pepper looked back up into his face. "Well… how about my previous offer? There are several pavilions free for you to decide if you're still interested in showcasing at the Expo or not." A suave smile flittered across his features and, with a quick undecipherable gesture towards Lucius Fox in the distance, Bruce Wayne gallantly offered her his arm.

"I'm most definitely _interested_, Miss Potts. Why don't you give me tour around the site and show me what you were talking about?"  
>Smiling back at him Pepper took his arm. Her grin got even bigger when she saw a familiar white Audi R8 convertible rolling onto the fairground.<p>

"Oh, it'll be my pleasure, Mister Wayne."

Fin


End file.
